Introduction So you think 2015 was a great year? Well, I can promise you that 2016 will be even better! For us as well as for you. This iStill Blog post is about why I think 2016 will be a great year. First of all, yes, there will be more upgrades and great new innovative products. Secondly, we will be supporting Craft Distillers worldwide in an all new fasion. Product innovation With the first iStill Water Cooker built, we now shift our attention to the stand-alone iStill Filtration System. It is of a much bigger capacity than the carbon filtration units we provide on our manual and Base Series models. The new unit will have a pre-filter the Craft Distiller can use to filter barrel aged drinks. No need of hot tasting wood or char particles in your drinks anymore. The iStill Filtration System will also be equiped with secundairy filters for those that want to polish up their vodka's. It will have a pump and run on 220 volts at around 10 amps. If you follow this Blog, you may have heard about a new design feature we added to our 250 and 500 Pro Series models: our all new Tails Suppression Sytem. By invoking a lower vapor speed region to the design, we allow for more control over Tails. Another design innovation that gives the Craft Distiller the possibility to manage the smearing of early Tails with more ease. Or even to prevent it, in case he wants to make a (early cut oriented) fruit brandy. Since the Tails Suppression System is a structural redesign, we added it to the new Pro Series. But how do we give our Base Series iStills 50, 250 and 500 this enhanced capability? I have been testing an automated solution and results are great. Therefore, expect our Firmware v5.13 to offer you just that: an automated Tails Suppression Program. It will give the Craft Distiller the opportunity to collect Hearts on a taste rich product at the same ABV during the whole run. Since boiler ABV is depleted, during the run, we boost the amount of redistillations near the end of the run, making the Hearts cut longer, bigger, and cleaner. For fruit brandy, or for a whiskey or rum that you want to age only shortly. Service innovations Yes, we are going to do something new alltogether, in 2016! Those that attended my "Future of Distillation Address" at the London Craft Distilling Conference know what challenges our industry will face the coming years. Efficient production as well as global sales have to counter the ever increasing number of Craft Distillers as well as hold competition from the big sized distilleries at bay. iStill produces the most efficient stills in the world. You produce beautiful regionally made products with them. How can we help you out in 2016 and beyond? By creating a Craft Distillers Sales Platform Organization (CDSPO). Produced locally, sold globally. That's the idea. You make great product. We, or actually CDSPO, make sure it is sold all over the world. The planning of the CDSPO consists of a few important steps or milestones:

1. Creating the organization to sell craft products successfully on a global level;
2. Setting up a business model, marketing plan, and automated support platform;
3. Organizing a three months try-out;
4. Learning from the try-out and translate it to a full-swing roll-out of the new organization.

I am very happy to inform you that I feel we have the right people on board to turn my idea into a success. And there is a few others standing by to step in as soon as we start growing. Guido Meijer, Managing Partner at ConsumerView, has a long standing experience in marketing regional products globally. He will be the new organization's Marketing Officer. Chef Blancke has earned his feathers as a pro-active sales manager. He will be the CDSPO's Sales Manager. His responsibility is to get your product on international shelfs! Here's a picture of the three of us endulging in the better parts of bringing this all to life, where we judge like 6 gins to decide which ones are going to participate in the try-out:

Are you interested to learn more? Please email me directly via sales@istillmail.com

Regards, Odin

www.iStill.eu